The present invention relates to a window element comprising at least one at least periodically translucent sheet-like element and at least one surface (display) intended for the reproduction of images.
According to the prior art, conventional screens (information carriers) are separate objects on which the reproduction of images is carried out in accordance with the cathode ray tube principle. In recent times, use has increasingly been made of flat screens, which take up less space and appear more elegant than conventional monitors. However, even these flat screens are separate objects.
In DE 101 31 598 C1, which was filed on Jun. 29, 2001 but is not a prior publication as compared with the present application, a description is given of using a sunshade as a display, so to speak, by the hanging surface being provided with organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) and these being driven via control electronics in order in this way to produce an image on the sunshade hanging. However, the sunshade hanging is not translucent but, instead, is used for the purpose of shielding an interior space against solar irradiation. This is therefore a sight screen in the form of an awning, a set of louvers, a roller blind, a roller shutter or the like. It is therefore only possible either to pull the sunshade down or forward and then to use it as a display for viewing images or the sunshade hanging is pulled up or to the side and then, when the latter is located in front of a window, it is possible to look out through the window. However, the screen is then no longer visible and usable. In the case of this idea, an additive element is used in every case, which constitutes the sunshade hanging, in order to permit images to be viewed. This has the disadvantage that the user must purchase the additive element and that he must pull this additive element down or forward in order to use it as a screen.
It is also already known to coat glass panes, which are either suspended freely in the room or are part of windows or shop windows, with a special prismatic film, in order then to project images onto these glass panes. For this purpose, however, a separate projector is needed. This means that the image is generated by the projector and not in the display or in the immediate vicinity of the display, as in the case of a flat screen. In this method, the projected image floats, so to speak, on the glass pane. The distortion caused by the projection has to be compensated for.
On the basis of this prior art, the object of the present invention is to provide a window element which, firstly, as required, is used in a function as a window and is thus largely transparent and which, in another function as an alternative to this, can be used as a display for the reproduction of image elements but without a projection device being needed for this purpose.
The achievement of this object supplies a window element according to the invention of the generic type cited at the beginning and having the characterizing features of the main claim.